AG/RES. 1889 (XXXII-O/02)
THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE AS AN
ANTIPERSONNEL-LAND-MINE-FREE ZONE
(Adopted at the fourth plenary session held on June
4, 2002)
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
HAVING
SEEN:
The Annual Report of the Permanent Council (AG/doc.4059/02), in
particular, the section on the matters entrusted to the Committee on
Hemispheric Security; and
The Report of the General Secretariat (CP/doc.3573/02) on the
implementation of resolutions “Support for Action Against Mines in Peru and
Ecuador” [AG/RES. 1792 (XXXI-O/01)]; “Support for the Program of Integral
Action Against Antipersonnel Mines in Central America” [AG/RES. 1793
(XXXI-O/01)]; and “The Western Hemisphere as an Antipersonnel-Land-Mine-Free
Zone [AG/RES. 1794 (XXXI-O/01)];
RECALLING its resolutions “The Western Hemisphere as an
Antipersonnel-Land-Mine-Free Zone” [AG/RES. 1644 (XXIX-O/99), AG/RES. 1569
(XXVIII-O/98), AG/RES. 1496 (XXVII-O/97), AG/RES. 1411 (XXVI-O/96), and
AG/RES. 1794 (XXXI-O/01)] and “Cooperation for Security in the Hemisphere”
[AG/RES. 1744 (XXX-O/00)], which reaffirmed the goals of the global
elimination of antipersonnel land mines and the conversion of the Western
Hemisphere into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone;
REITERATING its profound concern over the presence in the Americas of
thousands of antipersonnel-land-mines and other undetonated explosive devices;
RECOGNIZING
WITH SATISFACTION:
The efforts being made by the Governments of Chile, Colombia, Costa
Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru to complete
mine-clearing activities and the destruction of stockpiles, as well as
programs of those countries and El Salvador, aimed at the physical and
psychological rehabilitation of victims and the socio-economic reclamation of
demined areas in their countries;
That the Convention on the Prohibition of Use, Stockpiling, Production
and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and On Their Destruction (Ottawa
Convention) is in force for 30 sovereign states of the region;
That the Amended Mines Protocol to the 1980 United Nations Convention
on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons
Which May Be Deemed to Be Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects is in
force for 14 sovereign states of the region;
The important coordination work of the Organization of American
States’ General Secretariat, through the Unit for the Promotion of
Democracy’s Mine Action Team; and
The valuable contribution by member states and permanent observers to,
and the support of the Committee on Hemispheric Security for, the goal of
making the Western Hemisphere an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone; and
TAKING
NOTE OF:
The important results of the Third Meeting of the States Parties to the
Ottawa Convention which took place in Managua, Nicaragua, from September 18
and 19, 2001; and
The successful implementation of the Managua Challenge, which assisted
member states to destroy close to six hundred thousand anti-personnel mines,
held in stockpiles across the Hemisphere,
RESOLVES:
1.
To reaffirm the goals of the global elimination of
antipersonnel-land-mines and the conversion of the Western Hemisphere into an
antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.
2.
To urge member states which have not yet done so to ratify or consider
acceding to the Convention on the Prohibition of Use, Stockpiling, Production
and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and On Their Destruction (Ottawa
Convention) as soon as possible to ensure its full and effective
implementation.
3.
To once again urge member states which have not yet done so to become
parties to the 1980 United Nations Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions
on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Injurious
or to Have Indiscriminate Effects and its four protocols, as soon as possible;
and to request member states to inform the Secretary General when they have
done so.
4.
To encourage member states, either to request or provide assistance, as
appropriate, to the Organization of American States (OAS) Mine Action Team
through its mine clearance, stockpile destruction, mine awareness, and victim
assistance programs, in order to advance mine action in the region.
5.
To further encourage member states and permanent observers to provide
resources to mine action programs in the region in order to address the
financial crisis which is jeopardizing the goal of a mine-free Hemisphere.
6.
To request the Secretary General to consider the possibility of
developing new mine action programs in the Americas to assist affected member
states, upon request, in fulfilling their commitment to convert the Western
Hemisphere into an antipersonnel-land-mine-free zone.
7.
To reiterate the importance of participation by all member states in
the OAS Register of Antipersonnel Land Mines by April 15 of each year, in
keeping with AG/RES. 1496 (XXVII-O/97), and to commend member states which
have regularly submitted their reports to that end.
8.
To encourage member states that are parties to the Ottawa Convention to
provide to the Secretary General as part of their submissions to the OAS
Register of Antipersonnel Land Mines, in keeping with AG/RES. 1496
(XXVII-O/97), a copy of their Ottawa Convention Article 7 transparency
reports; and to further encourage member states which are not yet parties to
the Ottawa Convention to provide similar information with their annual
submissions.
9.
To request the Permanent Council to forward any information or
recommendations that result pursuant to this resolution to the preparatory
body of the Special Conference on Security as a contribution to the
preparations for that Conference.
10.
To instruct the Permanent Council to report to the General Assembly at
its thirty-third regular session on the implementation of this resolution.
